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Interesting that Ms. Tymoshenko resurrects the ghost of Trotsky to defame Putin. Putin, himself regularly misquotes Trotsky to discredit his opposition. Trotsky has been the boogeyman of choice for the Soviet nomenklatura since his exile in the late 20's. But the 'no war, no peace' reference may actually apply here, though not quite the way that the gas princess intends. Trotsky sought a middle ground in his negotiations with the Germans at Brest-Litovsk in 1917 between Lenin, who wanted to sign the treaty and Bucharin along with other of the Bolshevik leadership who wanted to extend the revolution to Germany. Puitn is also pursuing a middle ground between hard-liners in Russia and the Donbas who want increased military intervention and the realists who want to de-escalate. It should be remembered that in 1917, Trotsky's position quickly became untenable and the Bolsheviks were forced to sign the treaty. Let's hope history repeats.

Avery well written and presented argument, there are several threats to the world in the 21st Century, climate change, Raical Islam, and Putin. The West has to ensure that any small victories Putin achieves are phyrric victories. The US and the EU has to stand strong and if they see no improvement in thesituation increase the sanctions until Putins screams of anger can be heared clearly in London Berlin and Paris. (My condoences to the families of that abhorrent attack). Joke
Putin goes into a bar and orders a vodka, the barman says we don't serve shorts, Putin looks and sees a man dringking Whiskey and said he's drinking whiskey, but the barman says well of course he is four feet tall.

It's odd that Yuliya Tymoshenko says "Putin has discovered his inner Trotsky"? It's true that Trotsky proposed the formula “no war, no peace” for the peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk in 1918, because he argued against the acceptance of Germany’s annexationist terms. Yet Lenin had decided to pay the German price for peace and thus buy time for the Soviet state.
In her eyes the Minsk Protocol signed between Ukraine, Russia and the separatists in Eastern Ukraine has not been to Kiev's advantage. It granted self-rule rights to Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which will still remain part of Ukraine. But she says Kiev had "ceded de facto control of the Donbas region, supposedly for only three years, to Russia’s hired secessionists".
Tymoshenko underscores Ukraine's territorial integrity as "non-negotiable" and that her "country will be an independent, fully sovereign state". The reality in Eastern Ukraine tells a different story. The residents there resent Kiev more than they resent Moscow. According to a UN report, of the roughly 454,000 people who had fled Ukraine by the end of October, more than 387,000 went to Russia. Why? How realistic is her claim that "Ukrainians’ unity, spirit, and devotion to their freedom remain undented"? She makes no friends with her hardline policies in the East and many in Ukraine find her as unpalatable as the country's venal and self-serving elite.
Tymoshenko is known for being a firebrand co-leader of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution and had captured the world's attention. She may not be ruling Ukraine, but she is a skilled political manipulator. There's no doubt about Putin's intention of keeping Ukraine politicaly weak and divided, as it suits Russia's strategic interests. It has special ties with Ukraine historically and doesn't want it to join the NATO. With her fiery rhetoric, Tymoshenko is trying to convince the West that Russia should not get away with impunity and that it ought to do more to punish Moscow's aggression.

I just don't understand why Ukraine wants to keep the Russian speaking parts of Ukraine. After living under effectively Russian rule, and after kicking them out, you had an opportunity to build a Ukraine for Ukrainians but instead chose to get into a fight over regions you should not care about. I can no longer feel any sympathy for Ukraine who have put nationalist feelings above common sense. Of course the Russians have behaved no better. Perhaps the two countries have the same lesson to learn and so it is fortunate for the rest of the world they border on each other.

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